Wednesday, August 31, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Bystanders fume over child left in car

Driver gets off with warning, parking ticket as crowd watches

(1) On Tuesday, an unidentified man leaves a small child alone in his idling vehicle as he enters an office building at 3rd Street and Clark Avenue. (2) A parking enforcement officer calls in the vehicle after spotting the child. (3) The man returns to the car and is confronted by the parking enforcement officer. (4) Las Vegas police officers investigate why a child was left unattended in a running car. (5) The child in question -- a 6-year-old boy, according to police -- emerges from the back seat of the Isuzu Rodeo. The man was allowed to leave the scene with a warning from police and a ticket from the parking enforcement officer.

He steered to the curb in a no-parking zone, left his Isuzu Rodeo idling and dashed across 3rd Street into an office.

At 3 p.m., the temperature hovered around 101 degrees in downtown Las Vegas.

A few minutes later, an observer noticed what the man had left unattended in his locked vehicle -- a small child.

The observer pointed it out to a parking enforcement officer. And the parking enforcement officer called her supervisor.

About 12 minutes later, when the dark-haired man exited the office on the corner of Clark Avenue and 3rd Street, he saw the parking enforcement officer standing watch by his car.

The parking officer, who declined to give her name, had not left the vehicle since discovering a child behind the vehicle's darkly tinted glass.

The man asked her what the problem was.

At 3:16 p.m., a Las Vegas Fire Department paramedic unit arrived at the scene with sirens blaring, drawing the attention of passersby and downtown employees on afternoon breaks.

Two Metropolitan Police Department units soon pulled up and flanked the sandy-colored sport-utility vehicle. The man, whom police declined to identify, was searched and questioned about his actions.

Meanwhile, the crowd on the curb pieced together what the commotion was about. It outraged them.

The man's shrugs and smiles to the police officer interviewing him set off a torrent of observations from the crowd that became louder as the watchers grew in number from three to eight.

"They need to arrest him," said Laura Wilson, a legal office assistant in the district attorney's family support division. "What is wrong with him?"

Across the street, just in front of the chain link fence skirting the county's new Regional Justice Center, police Officer Darren Schwartz peppered the man with a barrage of questions:

Did he realize how many local children had died because they were left in hot cars?

Did he know that heat can damage car batteries, and the vehicle he left idling could have had problems with the child still inside?

Did he know that unattended children can be snatched from cars by sexual predators?

"One thing leads to another," Schwartz told the man sternly. "Do you know how quickly the temperature in your car can go from 90 degrees to 130 degrees?"

Jody Esposito, vice president of the safety group Kids and Cars, knows the answers to Schwartz's questions.

She's dedicated herself to raising public awareness about the dangers vehicles can present to unattended children. Four years ago, Esposito's 5-year-old son played hide-and-seek in a trunk, got trapped and died.

Her efforts are part of the reason that on Oct. 1 a new law will allow misdemeanor charges against parents who intentionally leave children alone in vehicles.

"A lot of people don't see the news," Esposito said. "They think it will never happen to them. ... So many people in Las Vegas don't understand the heat factor and what happens if you leave a child in the car."

Since January, Las Vegas police have handled 62 cases of children being left in cars, including an Aug. 26 incident involving Tio Rodriguez, who left his 17-month-old daughter in a sweltering car for 90 minutes.

Nationwide, 28 children have died this year after being exposed to extreme heat in vehicles.

The man who left his Isuzu idling, did leave the air conditioning on. The child, who was a 6-year-old-boy, turned out to be fine. The man was allowed to leave the scene with a warning from police and a ticket from the parking enforcement officer.

Wilson was incensed. Her division of the district attorney's office offers a play room in a safe environment for children who accompany their parents to appointments.

There's no reason to leave a child alone, she said.

Deborah Riley, also an assistant in the district attorney's family division, thought the man's actions merited more than a warning.

"Look at him; he's relieved," Riley said as she watched the man interact with the police. "He's relieved because he's basically going to get away with it."

Lt. Michael Dalley said the incident report will be turned over to Metro's abuse and neglect unit for follow-up.

Sri Carlson, a mother of six children, shook her head sadly as she watched the man and the child drive away.

"I don't think it's right," Carlson said, looking past her melting frozen fruit bar at the departing vehicle. "People don't have any consideration. Why would you leave a child alone like that?"